About the studio

Fishponds Pottery was started by husband and wife team Finola and Max Thomas at the beginning of 2019, right here in Fishponds, Bristol.

The studio is a flexible workspace for craftspeople and creatives with a ceramics focus. Alongside courses and workshops, we run an open access membership scheme and a ceramics firing service — so whether you're picking up clay for the first time or you've got your own practice going, there's a place for you here.

We're tucked just off the main road with our own outside space, a garden that looks over the allotments, and no shopfront. Most people walk straight past without realising we're here. That's part of the appeal, we think.

Close-up view of textured, layered clay in a reclaim pile.

Why we do it

We teach the way we'd want to be taught. Everything gets demonstrated as well as explained, sessions are structured so you always know what's coming next, and you'll never be handed a wall of text before you can start.

Pottery is a craft you learn with your hands. We think everyone should be able to get into it, whatever way you learn best.

A person shaping a ceramic vase on a pottery wheel in a workshop.

Meet the team

Everyone who teaches here is a working ceramicist with their own practice. That changes how they teach — you're learning from someone still figuring things out themselves.

A young woman with long, wavy brown hair and blue eyes smiling in front of a blurred background of colorful flowers, wearing a dark jacket with a zipper.

Finola Thomas

Finola is the owner of Fishponds Pottery, a gifted communicator and teacher with an MA in Design and Visual Research from Brighton University. She's a contemporary ceramicist whose work explores form through wheel thrown sculpture, drawing on 1930s weaving machinery. She's been teaching throwing since 2014, and says throwing is a craft that takes practice, patience and persistence. We believe everyone can get there — our workshops and courses are designed to be a relaxed start on your ceramic journey.

Instagram: @fishponds_pottery

A woman standing in a pottery studio holding an unglazed ceramic bowl. There are completed bowls and shelves with pottery in the background.

Lucy Turner

Lucy is our head studio technician and a graduate of the Ceramics BA at Cardiff School of Art and Design. She's been throwing since 2017 and makes and sells her own pots alongside teaching here.

Her work draws on British studio pottery tradition — functional wheel thrown pots designed to be used and loved every day.

Lucy teaches our beginners plus and intermediate courses, with a structured, supportive approach aimed at building your confidence at the wheel.

Instagram: @lucyturnerceramic

Close-up of pottery bowls and vases on a wooden shelf and table.
A rustic wooden table holds a green ceramic bowl filled with dark grapes, a small green and brown ceramic pitcher, a vintage green and wood cake stand with a brown ceramic bowl, and a small bowl with a spiral design. In the background, a gray fabric backdrop and dried flowers hang upside down.
Stacked ceramic cups on a rustic shelf with a decorative stand in the foreground.
A smiling woman holding a decorative ceramic mug shaped like a frog at a craft or art studio, with painting supplies and a pottery wheel on the table.

Caitlin Wilson

Caitlin is a multimedia artist who works with both throwing and handbuilding. She's been working with ceramics since 2020, after studying illustration at UWE where she discovered a passion for clay and started finding ways to combine the two.

She started with thrown forms and has since developed her handbuilding and slip decoration, combining both to make one-off pieces — everything from statement work inspired by medieval illustration and old paintings to vibrant contemporary ceramics.

Caitlin is one of our studio technicians and teaches on our beginners courses and workshops.

Instagram: @caitlinwilsonceramics

A ceramic vase decorated with a tiger face and striped pattern, featuring two handles and a flared top, set against a textured gray background.
Ceramic vase with decorative sketches of animals and a woman, placed outdoors on a white circular surface with black plastic material in the background.
A wooden frame containing nine ceramic tiles with black and white illustrations of a castle, a swan, and animals including a dog, a cat, and a rabbit, arranged in a 3x3 grid.
Decorative ceramic plate with a blue outline drawing of a woman holding a plate, hanging from a metal chain on a textured wall.
A woman with short brown hair and a brown apron standing in a light, airy pottery workshop. She is holding a rolling pin and rolling a large piece of clay.

Lucy Cheminais

Lucy is a skilled and knowledgeable ceramicist with over 25 years' experience, making hand-built and thrown wares that are both good looking and properly functional.

As a resident and tutor here, she draws on her research into studio pottery traditions with a particular focus on ash glazes, exploring how natural materials and historic techniques feed into contemporary ceramics.

Lucy teaches our 6 week handbuilding course.

Instagram: @lucycheminaisceramics

A beige ceramic wall sconce ornament shaped like an arch, placed on a light-colored surface. The ornament has a small hole to hang it, with a tall white candle held at the bottom in the candle holder.
A collection of white and yellow ceramic vases and bowls on a white surface, with a white background. Citrus fruit for decoration in the foreground.
Close-up of a round white ceramic wall sconce with two white candles and dried plants, mounted on a light-colored wall.
A woman smiling while working on a pottery wheel in a ceramics studio. There are shelves with various ceramics and a large sunflower bouquet in the foreground.

Rachel

Rachel is a multi-media practitioner who runs workshops for all ages through her business The Crafty Social Club. She loves colour and texture in her clay work, and takes inspiration from the dripping, reactive glazes of 1970s pottery.

She's primarily a handbuilding tutor on our Crafty Friday sessions. Rachel loves that clay is such an accessible, versatile medium — anyone can come along and have a play. She's a big believer that the joy is in the making, not in worrying about how it turns out.

Instagram: @thecraftysocialclub

Colorful glazed vase with pink hearts, filled with a plant with green and red variegated leaves, held in front of a red textured background.
A round blue and white ceramic vase with legs, with a beach scene painted on it, showing waves, sand, and a dolphin, with a potted plant with dark purple leaves placed in it.
A star-shaped seashell with a galaxy and star pattern inside, on a red background.
Close-up of a smiling man with a beard and mustache, wearing a black t-shirt and a beaded necklace with a decorative pendant, standing against a textured beige wall.

Petros

Petros started his pottery journey six years ago, finding it during his first lessons on the wheel in Athens with the awarded ceramist Stavros Perakis. His practice developed further a year later when he enrolled on a fine art course at UWE Bristol.

His work focuses on functional ware, with a strong emphasis on material selection and a playful approach to familiar forms.

Petros teaches our weekend workshops.

Instagram: @earthwatersoul_ceramics

An ancient-style clay pottery vessel with decorative perforations and patterns, against a plain white background.
Two handmade pottery cups with brown and beige speckled glaze, featuring abstract black and brown painted designs, against a white background.
Woman with curly hair smiling, holding a detailed green and yellow ceramic triceratops dinosaur, standing in front of a pink background.

Holly Worland Young

Holly Worland Young is a wildlife ceramic artist specialising in sculpting marine creatures — whales, crabs, nudibranchs, and the occasional land animal. She studied Fine Art at Falmouth University, has been making ceramics since 2020 and teaching since 2022.

Holly teaches our weekend workshops.

Instagram: @holly_worland_young

A person's hand holding a small, blue animal-shaped ceramic figurine with a white dotted pattern, and a larger, matching animal-shaped figurine in the background, both on a flat, light-colored surface.
Collection of ceramic marine life sculptures, including fish, a crab, a starfish, a whale, a seahorse, and other sea creatures, glazed in various vibrant colors and patterns.
Close-up of a peach-colored tulip flower with green leaves in a white ceramic bowl against a dark background.

Jenny Penelhum

Jenny Penelhum makes small batch ceramic tableware from her studio in South Bristol, all thrown on the wheel and finished by hand. She's drawn to the earthy tones and texture found naturally in the clay body, and aims to show the clay in all its glory.

On teaching, she says it's a two-way exchange — sharing skills while learning new perspectives from other people, and helping them bring their ideas to life through problem solving and conversation.

Jenny teaches our weekend workshops.

Instagram: @spillthetea_studio

Hand holding a rust coloured, metallic glazed mug against a background of green grass.
Close-up of a ceramic decorative object on a plate, with a shelf of ceramic houses in the background.
Top-down view of a brown glazed ceramic plate with concentric circle patterns inside, placed on a woven fabric surface. Part of another brown ceramic object is visible on the top left corner.
Close-up of a woman with curly brown hair and light skin wearing translucent glasses and a white top, standing in front of a dark green wall with a wooden door in the background.

Jesse Le Boulanger

Jesse looks after marketing, communications and outreach at Fishponds Pottery. She studied Design and Craft at the University of Brighton, where she met Finola, and has worked across creative businesses ever since. Jesse also offers freelance marketing support for small businesses.

Instagram: @itsbyjesse

Come and see us

We'd love to have you in the studio. Have a look at what's on, or get in touch if you're not sure where to start.

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